[UK-based] A3 Gold with a trip in Asia?
 

Hello,

First of all apologies if I am not posting in the correct forum or if I don't use the proper lingo, but I'm a newbie here :)

I have taken a month off this April to travel to Asia, and I am planning on becoming A3 Gold in the process (currently 1250 miles only).

I have done a little bit of search using the different engines provided in the MR forum, and I fell upon this routing:
LHR-NRT-SIN-KUL-BKK-KHG-LHR in Y for around 2500GBP (combination of different *A airlines)

I have a few questions:
1) How to know which class of service matches each fare? (e.g. if booked through SQ website I only have the ITA fare, but not the class of service it belongs to)
2) Any ideas on how to maximize the routing, and eventually diminish the cost of it:)?(e.g. maybe a LHR-FRA-NRT instead of LHR-NRT)

Thanks in advance for your help!
PapyPiHi

all I can say is 2500 UKP is a very high price for Y ,

Just for fun try Air Canada or United thru North America and see if that works , even if its 2 tickets ,

Flights from LAX to BKK are $1200 or so on United and I bet that a London to Los Angeles flight is not even $1000 at that time of year ,

Just a thought ....

RB

You could get LHR-KUL in C for GBP1600 with MS/Egyptair...and a stopover in BKK too.

I managed to get DUB-ZRH-BKK-SIN-BKK-ZRH-DUB for £1,700 in C later this year A3*G in one shot :) (well assuming nothing has changed with the programme by then - fingers crossed!)

Athens is also a fertile hunting ground for good J fares to almost anywhere at the moment.

You could fly a roundtrip on A3 from LHR -ATH in Y (to keep the ridiculous UK departure taxes under control) and then buy a roundtrip to Asia from ATH in J

*A options would include Lufthansa and Swiss but some particularly good deals on Turkish. Plan the flight times right and you can enjoy the free Istanbul city tour and then have a shower and enjoy the kebabs and coffee in their excellent new lounge too.. :-)

Thanks for your answers!

After looking at the different options suggested above, I went for the DUB-ZRH-BKK-SIN-BKK-ZRH-DUB in Z for 1700GBP... looking forward to enjoying the lounges :cool:

Woo :D Glad you liked my suggestion and hope you have a great trip - I'm really looking forward to trying out LX C later this year! (almost managed to nab a Hilton Dublin Airport room for about £35 in their Any Weekend Anywhere sale :D)

Don't miss the massages in the lounges (obviously not in ZRH nor in DUB)!

I think the massages in BKK (Assume you mean the Royal orchid Spa.?) are for J and F pax on TG metal only..

Yes, that what I was thinking too, although would be pleased to be told that wasn't the case :D Have actually currently got a TG J leg BKK-SIN on my way back from AKL on that trip so even still might be able to make use of it (although hopefully will be able to switch to a slightly more direct SQ routing in which case I won't be travelling through BKK on TG)

Well, that is going to be difficult to grab such a price, as I'll take off from DUB on Easter Monday...

Damn, I'll be flying SQ on SIN-BKK...I assume I can use the SQ lounge in SIN or BKKthen? Is it any good?

Oh ye of little faith :P Assuming that means you're staying the night of 8th April then I just checked and they've still got rooms at €43 (~£36) :D Sale ends 31/1/12 though, so book soon!
You'll definitely be able to use the SQ lounge (assuming there's no LX one there which I doubt) don't know what they're like though.

Why not use a TA for a complicated routing?

Well, It crossed my mind but I figured out it would be better for me to try for myself first :D This way I can familiarise myself with the different search tools

Thanks alanjrobertson, I'll definitely have a look!I've never been to the Hilton before but at that price it is a hell of a bargain! ^

MXP-ZRH-GVA-Moscow (whatever code they've)-GVA-ZRH-MXP can be booked for 290€ - taking just under 24 hours, getting you a bit over 6000 miles afaik (approx 4000 for GVA-Moscow, and 1000 for the other legs each) - 12000 miles for R/T.. you need 2 R/Ts, on where the second return one can be on cheaper Eco class (You'll have over 18.000 miles from it already) - so it will cost you approx. 500€ to hit *G - taking 2 days (out of MXP)